This biography of Linda Darnell, by Ronald Davis, contains two spanking mentions. The first is on set with Douglas Sirk.
Scheduled for release through United Artists, Summer Storm was directed by Douglas Sirk. Filming began in the spring of 1944, with The Wicked and The Weak as a working title. Linda got on well with Sirk, although things didn't always progress smoothly. One particularly bad day, the director had shot sixteen takes of an important scene in a greenhouse. Linda grew tired, embarassed, and was almost in tears. Finally Sirk ordered, 'Everybody take a breather.' Putting his arm around Linda's shoulder, he said, 'Now I want you to relax.' Suddenly he yanked her across his knee and spanked her hard. 'Now you go out there and do the scene right,' he snapped. The spanking so shocked and infuriated her that she went back on the set and made the scene one of the best in the picture.
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This scene concerns Darnell at a time when she was doing a travelling stage show with the opera singer Thomas Hayward, and, sadly, was drinking heavily. 'Robby' refers to her husband Merle Ray Robertson.
Linda was drinking and not eating, and her body was getting weaker. She lost her shapely legs, while her arms shrank to nothing. Hayward saw that she was ill and tried to reason with her. 'No, I'm fine,' Linda would say. But every night before going on stage she would be soaking wet, terrified she couldn't live up to the image expected. As the deterioration continued, Robby lost patience, growing more demanding with her. In February 1961 they were playing a month's engagement at the Drake Hotel in Chicago.
[...]
The last night there, Linda struck Robby during a squabble, and he turned her over his knee and spanked her.
Scheduled for release through United Artists, Summer Storm was directed by Douglas Sirk. Filming began in the spring of 1944, with The Wicked and The Weak as a working title. Linda got on well with Sirk, although things didn't always progress smoothly. One particularly bad day, the director had shot sixteen takes of an important scene in a greenhouse. Linda grew tired, embarassed, and was almost in tears. Finally Sirk ordered, 'Everybody take a breather.' Putting his arm around Linda's shoulder, he said, 'Now I want you to relax.' Suddenly he yanked her across his knee and spanked her hard. 'Now you go out there and do the scene right,' he snapped. The spanking so shocked and infuriated her that she went back on the set and made the scene one of the best in the picture.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
This scene concerns Darnell at a time when she was doing a travelling stage show with the opera singer Thomas Hayward, and, sadly, was drinking heavily. 'Robby' refers to her husband Merle Ray Robertson.
Linda was drinking and not eating, and her body was getting weaker. She lost her shapely legs, while her arms shrank to nothing. Hayward saw that she was ill and tried to reason with her. 'No, I'm fine,' Linda would say. But every night before going on stage she would be soaking wet, terrified she couldn't live up to the image expected. As the deterioration continued, Robby lost patience, growing more demanding with her. In February 1961 they were playing a month's engagement at the Drake Hotel in Chicago.
[...]
The last night there, Linda struck Robby during a squabble, and he turned her over his knee and spanked her.